Yemen clashes leave more than 40 dead

At least 28 rebels killed in fighting and coalition air strikes near Mokha and Hodeidah since Sunday.

April 10, 2017

Updated: April 10, 2017 04:00 AM

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Pro-government tribal fighters patrol a street during in the war-torn city of Taez in south-west Yemen during a visit by a UN delegation on April 9, 2017. Coalition and government forces are battling to take rebel-held port cities on the Red Sea coast to the east. Anees Mahyoub / Reuters

Aden // Clashes and air strikes in south-west Yemen killed more than 40 soldiers, rebels and civilians over 24 hours, officials and medics said on Monday.

Warplanes from the Saudi-led Arab coalition pounded Houthi rebel positions east of the Red Sea port of Mokha and other areas of Taez province since Sunday, a military official said.

Clashes raged after the air raids in the Jabal Al Nar area east of Mokha and north of the city on the road to Hodeidah, Yemen’s main Red Sea port.

At least 17 rebels were killed in the air strikes and fighting, medical sources in rebel-held Hodeidah said.

The coalition-backed government says Hodeidah is its next target in a months-long offensive aimed at pushing the Iran-backed insurgents away from the country’s lengthy Red Sea coastline.

Another 11 rebels were killed in air strikes on Kamran island and a base in Hodeidah itself, the medical sources said.

Ten soldiers were also killed and 15 were wounded, said medical sources in Aden, the temporary base of the government as Sanaa remains under rebel control.

Meanwhile, three civilians were killed and two others were wounded on Monday in a bombing that targeted the convoy of General Ali Muqbel Saleh, commander of the 33rd Armoured Brigade, in Dalea city, a security official said.